Tokyo delays Olympic volunteer training because of virus

An official in protective suits measure the temperature of the foreign passengers disembarked from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship before boarding to buses at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should be basking in the limelight this year in the runup to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Instead, the economy is reeling and criticism is mounting over his government’s handling of a new virus that began in China and has spread alarmingly in Japan. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

TOKYO (AP) — While again stating there are no plans to cancel or delay the Tokyo Olympics, local organizers postponed training sessions for volunteers on Friday for at least two months because of the virus outbreak spreading from China.

About 80,000 people are needed at the Olympics to provide free work which the IOC calls “key support to ensure the success of the games.”

Tokyo organizers said the postponed sessions are “part of efforts to prevent the spread of infection of the novel coronavirus.”

Training will be postponed until May or later, organizers said on their website. More than 200,000 people applied to be volunteers, with about one-third from outside Japan. The Olympics are scheduled to run from July 24-Aug. 9.

The International Olympic Committee, local organizers and the World Health Organization have repeatedly said there is no current need to put the games in doubt.

The virus, known as COVID-19, has caused the deaths of about 2,250 people since it emerged in the Chinese city Wuhan late last year. Up to Friday, three deaths and more than 700 cases — most from a quarantined cruise ship docked in Tokyo Bay — had been reported in Japan.

“There are no considerations of canceling the games nor will the postponements of these (training) activities have an impact on the overall games preparation,” Tokyo organizers said.

Still, plans for some Olympic-related promotions and preparation could change.

“In accordance with the government’s policy for preventing the spread of infectious diseases, we will also evaluate the immediate need for each games-related event on a case by case basis,” organizers said.

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